A couple weeks ago I was experiencing increased weakness in my legs. Is this general weakness or progression of tumor? I shook it off and kept on. It got worse as the days went on. I had some upper back pain too, lovely. One day I was getting ready and everything was fine. Got my morning bathing routine done and off to watch some news and shows, have breakfast etc. Mom came by and around noon I had to use the restroom. Made my way there and went. On the way back it was increasingly more difficult. I could feel the weakness creeping up. So nervous navigating back to the couch. Then around 3pm I had to go again. I never used the portable potty chair. I did this time. I knew I couldn’t make it to the bathroom, which isn’t far from where I was. I went and could not get up. Legs were checked out. No strength period. I was stuck. I called my father-in-law in to help me. He’s not a weak man. With my mom on my right and FIL on my left, couldn’t get me up. Great. It was scary. I knew I had to do something. Increased back pain, stuck on a potty chair, I called 911. They were there in minutes, I was still stuck. A fire truck and ambulance came. A whole team of big burly men came in. Three of them hoisted me up to stand and navigate back to the couch. I dropped like a sack of rocks. Legs were gone. They took me to a local hospital where I stayed til Friday, this was Monday afternoon. I called my wife and told her to head to the hospital. She was freaking out.
The hospital pumped me up full of pain meds. Lots of constipation would come later. More on this further down. I had an MRI of my spine and it showed more compression fractures in the thorasic spine this time, T7-12 as well as L3, 4, and 5 but too soon for surgical intervention.
Fast forward to Friday and a hospital worker came in to tell me there was nothing more the hospital could do and she was referring me out to a rehabilitation facility. She gave me a list of places that accepted my insurance. Four of them were of the same name just different locations. So I called my wife and we picked one close to her work but far from home. She works an hour and a half away from home. Not ideal but we will make it work. To make matters worse, the lady was pushing me to pick so we only had like what seemed to be about 15 minutes to choose a facility. We pick one. They arrange transport and off we go. When I arrived, there was a noticeable fecal odor. My wife smelled urine when she walked in. Awful. This place was a dump. Drab, dreary and dark. The only thing this place had going for it was a few nice staff members. It was more of an assisted living facility/nursing home than a rehab facility. Little did I know the care and pt/ot I would receive would be less than hoped for. Each weekday I would receive 5-10 minutes of pt/ot each. How can you rehabilitate and expect results? I did more on my own with the little leg kicks and movements in bed than I did with the “therapists.” My wife was not happy when she saw the place. The food was terrible, one CNA even said she wouldn’t feed it to her dog.
The Roommate. I never had to share a room in a “medical” setting before. This guy was a piece of work. I’m basically bedridden at this point. I can’t get up. Legs are checked out. He’d go to the bathroom which was right in front of my bed with the door wide open. Finally, I said Hey man, shut the door, I don’t want to see you take a dump. He was a disgusting person. One night, he came over and shut off what was similar to a cheap hotel air conditioner. Just walked over and shut it completely. Another night he came into my space and went to reach for something on my tray table. I said “hey! get out of my space!” What the heck, guy?! I reported him and told the administrator there were multiple patient conduct infractions with him. I requested to be removed from the situation or him to be. They moved me to a different room. The new roommate had a tracheotomy. Multiple nurses said he was brain dead. The only bad thing about this new room was the sound of the machines. It became like a white noise. I didn’t mind it. Anything was better than being in the room with someone going to rifle through your things while you are asleep.
So now I am here, in a facility getting virtually zero rehab to get back some strength. I was so embarassed by this place I told my in-laws not to come visit. If it wasn’t for my wife and mother I wouldn’t have had a decent meal over the last few days. Thank you ladies, I really appreciate it. One day shy of two weeks go by and I am happy to report I am in an actual rehabilitation facility. Beit my first day, it’s already a bright beginning. We found a place. A beautiful new facility about a year old. The website says intensive pt/ot 3hrs a day, 5 days a week. I’ve got work to do but I am hopeful it will get me to where I need to be. It took a bit and my wife was getting discouraged. I told her be patient and positive we will get it done. I was asked by the awful place why I wanted to transfer. To save face and be cordial, I told them it was much closer to home and also much closer for my mother to travel. These were not untruths. The bad place dragged their feet sending over the referral to the new spot. I was approved by the M.D. here and just needed insurance approval. Finally, they sent everything over. A day later insurance approved the transfer. I texted with my contact at the new place and transportation was arranged. I’ve been here 6 hours now and can confirm night and day doesn’t even describe the difference in the two facilities. Such a wonderful experience and the real work hasn’t even begun.
I’m settling in today and waiting for my wife to get here from work. She’s going to be surprised at the difference. I’m excited for her to see how different it really is here. So nice. The hard part starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!
~ Thanks for stopping by!
Bruce
Tumor Has It 
Leave a comment